Secondary Sources of Data Flashcards
What are official statistics?
Produced by the government
What are the two types of official statistics?
Hard statistics
Soft statistics
What are hard statistics?
Not open to interpretation or changing definitions
e.g. birth, marriage, death, divorce statistics
What are soft statistics?
Can be redefined meaning they can lack validity
Social construction - e.g. poverty, unemployment, ill health, crime
What are the advantages of official statistics as a source of secondary data?
Very cheap and easy to use/interpret
Not time consuming to use - data already there
Can easily make comparisons and look at trends
No ethical issues with the official statistics
Very representative - data has to be given to the government by law
What are the disadvantages of official statistics as a source of secondary data?
Soft statistics - may lack validity e.g. crime statistics lack validity as they ignore the dark figure of unreported crime
May be subject to political bias
e.g. between 1979 & 1997 conservative government produced statistics to show unemployment fell every year - government changed the way they counted unemployment over 30 times
What does the term documents refer to?
Refers to any qualitative written text or image
What are personal documents?
Provide feelings and accounts of an individual
e.g. diary, autobiography, letters
What are public documents?
Created by a school, the government, councils, charities, businesses etc.
e.g. Ofstead, government reports
What are historical documents?
Include personal and public documents and other sources created in the past
e.g. newspapers, photos, books/novels, artwork, films
What are the advantages of documents as a source of secondary data?
No ethical issues as the research has already been done
Interpretivists like the qualitative data - valid and can gain verstehen
Valid - true life account
What are the disadvantages of documents as a source of secondary data?
Positivists don’t like the qualitiative data - cannot make comparisons/identify correlations
Not representative - doesn’t represent the wider population
What are the potential problems when assessing documents as a source of secondary data?
Authenticity - whether the document is genuine or fake
Credibility - what were the motives for creating the document, is it believable
Representative - is it typical of all documents
Meaning - words can change meaning over time and a modern day interpretation may not mean the same thing
What is a content analysis?
A way of analysing documents
What does a content analysis involve?
Involves turning the document into a quantitative form that can be measured
What do interpretivists argue about content analysis?
Argue it gives no meaning to the document either in terms of the meaning to the audience or the intended meaning of those who created the document
What is a case study?
One intensive example of whatever the sociologist is researching
How can a case study be carried out?
It can be done using any method but usually with unstructured interviews or participant observation
What is a life history?
An account of a persons life as told to the researcher
How are life histories usually carried out?
Usually done in the form of an unstructured interview supported by personal documents such as diaries or letters
What are the advantages of case studies and life histories as a source of secondary data?
Interpretivists like because it allows them to gain verstehen
Valid data
No ethical issues
What are the disadvantages of case studies and life histories as a source of secondary data?
Not representative - one person account/perspective
Positivists don’t like - cannot make comparisons
Not reliable - may not be able to conduct interview in the same way again
How is a longitudinal study carried out?
Carried out on the same sample of people over a long period of time
How is data collected in a longitudinal study?
Data collected from the sample at regular intervals using questionnaires or interviews
What does triangulation refer to?
Refers to a researcher using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to check the validity and reliability of the data
